BENUE, JUNE 22, 2016 – Participants at town hall meetings at Adikpo and Vandeikya Local Government Councils of Benue have advised Gov. Samuel Ortom to devise ways of improving the state’s economy.
The meetings were organised by the state government on Tuesday to keep people abreast of government’s activities in the last one year.
At Adikpo, the headquarters of Kwande Local Government Council, the participants advised Ortom to “think outside the box’’, in his quest to find solutions to the problems of the state.
They also advised him to ensure regular payment of salaries and even distribution of fertiliser to farmers to produce bountiful harvest.
At Vandeikya, Rev. Andrew Ibi, urged the governor to avoid distractions and remain focused in order to achieve the objectives of his administration.
Ibi advised him to find alternative ways of generating income to augment the declining federal allocations.
A top APC member, Sen. Jack Gyado, urged the governor to be determined and resolute in the discharge of his duties in order to give credible service to the people.
Gyado advised the governor not to “dip his hands’’ into government coffers, adding that those who did that never went scot free.
In Konshisha Local Government Council, Chief Jam Gbinde, advised the governor to stop lamenting and source money to develop the state.
According to Gbinde, leaders inspire confidence in their subjects and not fear.
He also advised the governor to suggest to President Muhammadu Buhari to share the recovered looted funds among states to defray the backlog of salaries.
Other participants urged the governor to improve on payments of salary and to evaluate his amnesty programme.
They noted that there were still illegal weapons in circulation.
Speaking on the conduct of the town hall meetings, a state lawmaker, Mr Benjamin Nungwa, said that the meeting was a novel experience and assured that the legislators would also adopt it.
Earlier in address, Ortom said that those attacking him on social media platforms were trying to truncate his administration.
He assured the people that he would overcome the present challenges and reposition the state for political and economic greatness.
The governor denied taking excessive loans, saying that all the loans taken by his administration were N53.5 billion.
He explained that the loans were channelled toward payment of salaries and the development of critical infrastructure,
Ortom said that that state had a monthly wage bill of over N4 billion including overheads and pensions.
According to him, it has become difficult to settle salaries with the N2 billion accruing to the state from the Federation account and with an Internally- Generated Revenue of just N500 million monthly’’.
He said that the paucity of funds had also affected the conduct of local government elections.
According to him, the state electoral commission responsible for the conduct of the election needs N860 million for the polls.
The governor said that his administration was struggling to stay afloat as a result of the huge economic mess the previous administration plunged it into.
